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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Spring miracles

After more than a month of grey, rainy weather, the sun finally appeared this past weekend and stayed long enough for me to begin to believe summer might actually arrive. The cherry trees have been in blossom for a week or more but it's been hard to appreciate them through the gloom so it was a gift to stop mid-run this evening to savour their exuberant beauty in sunlight.

Nature's constant churn seems truly miraculous to me. I'm not sure I could survive the damp dreariness of April if I weren't sure spring would eventually bring fresh greens and bright blossoms. I especially love the lilacs that remind me of the old lilac bush that grew just outside the front door of my childhood home and the two large bouquets that suffused the air with their sweet scent on my wedding day.

In the same way nature renews itself in spring, our hearts and minds renew themselves. In what seems like the blink of an eye, things we didn't understand become clearer, the hard things we tried to avoid become bearable, and the joy and hope we weren't sure we would ever feel again creep back into our hearts. Suddenly, we know summer will come - that soon we'll sit on a beach listening to crashing waves or high atop a hill gazing at a star-filled sky and we'll feel safe and loved and happy once more.

Thank goodness for all of spring's miracles - but especially those that transform our hearts and minds in such profound ways.